you-know-why-we-do-this

I have not long got back from the allotment on a nice summer evening with potatos, beans, carrots and onions.And they are now cooking away ready to go with dinner.

And then for afters blackcurrents in a pie.What could be better,the taste the goodness and you know what you are eating.It makes all the cold and wet winter months so worth it.The battles with the slugs and snails and vermen.

Picked some lettuce and onions earlier myself. Had a wander around and then picked all the sweetpea flowers for my grandmother. I was heading back to the car when I spotted beautifully plump raspberries, so stopped for a while, had a mini-feast and watched while the sun slowly dropped down below the hills in the distance.

Beautiful things these allotments of ours, both in terms of what they produce and the wonderful moments when they make you stop, listen, admire and taste all the things that we've worked hard for. Bliss.

Picked some lovely runners for supper yesterday, and some tender buttery Swiss chard leaves. While I was picking them I noticed the first of my autumn raspberries had ripened - not enough for a meal but enough for a Gardener's Perk

There were enough perpetual strawberries ripe to tempt us to get some ice cream out of the freezer to go with them. I do recommend these Mara de bois perpetual strawberries - they've been fruiting all summer. We get enough for the two of us to have strawberries with our cereal for breakfast, or with some icecream for supper at least 3 times a week, and it's been like that since June